A Quirk of Fate
by Ladii-Chocolate
Summary: [Shikamaru x Hinata] Leaving trials and tribulations from the past behind them, they allowed fate to work its magic. Unlike her cousin, however, destiny didn't do them a disservice.
1. Shikamaru

**Author's Note:** _A Quirk of Fate _is a Shikamaru/Hinata fic dedicated to the best friend I never expected I'd ever have, mI.ShOE. Ever since I've met her, I haven't stopped smiling. Even when bad times happen with my family, I can always count on her to be the best shoulder to cry on. I, well, we believe that fate brought us together – and although we certainly sound like Neji, we believe that it was destiny's wish that we meet each other and support each other unconditionally. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone before, Shoey, and I promise to always be here for you.

**Summary:** (ShikaHina) Leaving trials and tribulations from the past behind them, they allowed fate to work its magic. Unlike her cousin, destiny didn't do them a disservice.

The most ironic of situations can arise, if one allows fate to work its magic. Put the most predictable and grumbling of the group with the most misunderstood and modest.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

**Dedications:** As I've said before, this is a gift fic dedicated _solely_ to _mI.ShOE_ (um, ignore me and my horrible jokes). It was intended to be a Christmas gift, but Shoey's been so patient despite my horrible attempt at punctuality. So, Merry Belated Christmas (um, is that the right way to say it?) to her!

**Inspiration:** _1000 Words_ by Koda Kumi, _Always_ by Beni Arashiro, _All for You_ by Namie Amuro, and _Okay_ by Bennie K.

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_**A Quirk of Fate**_

The first time he'd noticed her was in the vast Hyuuga manor, where, as a young child, he'd been forced to attend her tenth birthday party. Amongst fellow age mates and future teammates, he recalled being almost completely daunted by the vast majority of those present at the table with creamy eyes, and decided to deem the entire celebration nothing short of troublesome. Accompanied with his parents, he agreed to join in serenading the bashful nonentity who was situated at the head of the table. After all, it was common courtesy to do so; his mother later provided a justifiable explanation to him when he'd confronted her with his many grievances regarding the extravagance of the whole festivities. As a young pre-adolescent, the only logic circulating through his thoughts had been that if the birthday girl wasn't going to maintain eye contact with even her younger sister, how could anyone respect her enough to actually want to revere the day of her birth?

That was the day wherein he came to the rather satisfying deduction that all birthday parties were troublesome.

The next time he really paid any sort of attention to her was many years later, when everyone (minus that annoying ignoramus, Naruto…or so he had thought at the time) had graduated from the Academy as amateur genin. He remembered seeing the demure kunoichi carefully exhibiting her new flank to a proud, formidable man with milky eyes so similar to her own. Of course, he couldn't pay much more mind to her as his mother had promptly grabbed him in an uncomfortable embrace and emitted a squeal that sounded like a cross between a squirrel and a goose.

That was the day in which he came to the conclusion that all parents were troublesome.

Throughout the months he'd worked with his new teammates, he couldn't help but express an implicit desire to become a jounin and escape from the idiots he had now acquainted himself with: that overindulgent fool Akimichi Chouji, and that neurotic nut Yamanaka Ino. Although he would later admit that he did care somewhat about both of the abovementioned nins' welfare, he couldn't remove the sight of Chouji cramming loads upon loads of snacked goods in his mouth or the thought of Ino acting on her esteemed role as a fool for Uchiha Sasuke from their circulations around his mindset. Even though she had tried her best and applied cunning tactics in her match against Haruno Sakura during the Chuunin Exams, the only thoughts coursing through his mind had been: _She's a nut! She's an idiot! She's a fool!_

That was the day wherein he arrived to the justified supposition that all girls, namely those who were kunoichi, were troublesome.

Later, however, he would come to take back that blatant assumption. It was only when Ino had successfully used her Shintenshin no Jutsu against Sakura that he'd observed the bashful girl leaning against the cold banister, watching the match with bated breath, almost akin to his own-

At present, he allowed her gentle hand to rest on his shoulder, permitting her to subtly break his contemplations and steal his immediate attention. Glancing up at the young woman from where he sat in their sitting room, he noted the shy smile that seemed to be always present on her porcelain face, the faint blush that was quickly making itself apparent on her features, and the creamy eyes that shined with a newly-found optimism he had grown to love- er, admire.

He was conscious in what she had gone through to be with him today. She'd sacrificed the chance to receive any future birthday parties thrown by her prestigious Hyuuga clan, the desired support from her father she knew she would never receive regardless of her work and effort, and the opportunity to become an established shinobi…just to admit to the world that she harbored unconditional affections for him.

He tried his best to refrain from letting a proud smile grace his features as she took her place beside him and handed him his cup of green tea. Taking in the wonderfully warm and calming liquid with slightly parted lips, he couldn't help but inwardly beam at the way her lithe hands rested on her rotund stomach. Throughout these past seven months, he couldn't have been more idyllic. Their first child was expected to come in less than two months, and he was looking forward to the joys of being a father with unstilted anticipation.

Hyuuga Hinata was not troublesome. She was the only one – the only thing he could stand being with for long. Even during her pregnancy and those unpredictable onslaughts of unnecessary mood swings, she had proved to be well-mannered and unproblematic – completely unlike Ino, Sakura, or any of the other girls they were acquainted with in their village.

He hated to assume that their relationship was predestined to be by some sort of higher power – that would make him sound a bit too much like her cousin. He urgently sought to alleviate her pained memories about the family members who had forsaken her, and so he generally loathed the possibility that destiny had brought them together.

…But as long as fate presented him with no birthday parties, parents, or other kunoichi – only _her_, he was fine with assuming providence to be the factor.

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**Ending Note:** I hope you all enjoyed it. Well, I'm hoping that mI.ShOE enjoys it most of all; but you all are pretty important, too. XD Ooh, and if Kyaki's reading this, I hope she enjoys it, too. I know she loves ShikaHina just as much as Shoey and I do!

I'll be posting this story on LiveJournal if anyone's interested. If you want to friend me, just go to my homepage on my profile and do so! I'll friend you back, because I'm nice like that. Anyway, I'll be posting this story in the Hinata Crack Pairing Community on LJ, called _Sunny Day Love_. Go join it today if you like any and all Hinata pairings! It used to be for every pairing but NaruHina, but there are a couple of members who happen to like that, so NaruHina is welcome.

Please review! And join the _Sunny Day Love_ community! If you need the link, just say so in your review, and I'll give it to you in a review reply!

**Ladii-Chocolate**


	2. Hinata

**Author's Notes:** Lookie here! You probably didn't know that this was supposed to be a two-shot. I hope I got you good, Shoey. To tell you the truth, it was juliagulia1017 who suggested that a second chapter in Hinata's point of view would be nice. Much love to her; she's brilliant. And thank you for the reviews, everyone! I'm glad to see that there are others out there who are interested in the ShikaHina pairing.

Without further ado, your second (and final) chapter awaits.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

**Inspiration:** _HONEY_ by Otsuka Ai, _Pureyes_ by Yuna Ito, and juliagulia1017's suggestion.

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_**A Quirk of Fate**_

_**Chapter 2

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_Fate_.

It was not a rarity for the new Nara to allow the word to cross her mind every now and then. After all, her cousin used to speak of it with a reverence tantamount to her husband's love for gazing upon the clouds. To Hyuuga Neji, fate had been something that should never be tampered with. To him, it was something to accept rather than scorn, since apparently, no one could change who they were predetermined to become.

To Hyuuga Hinata, fate was a strange thing to comprehend. She would never deny that she had spent many an hour mulling over its true context and just how much it had applied to her new life. Back when her cousin had spoken so adamantly about it, her friends had told her to ignore him. There was no such thing as fate governing an individual's existence, they all said. To them, it was up to a person to decide his or her own role in life.

She did not know what to think anymore. Was it fate that she had ended up the wife of the laziest shinobi in her village, or had her own volition been a deciding factor in their affection for each other?

Her life story had been one sorry twist and turn after another. Whenever she looked back at what had transpired in the past, all that would meet her was hurt, misery, and worst of all, silence. She wordlessly struggled to prove her worthiness in the bitter faces of her father and other Hyuuga relatives. She mutely accepted the pain that had accompanied her realization that Uzumaki Naruto, her longtime crush, was dating Haruno Sakura. And unfortunately, she spent the majority of both her childhood and adolescence without a sound.

To everyone around her (or at least, so it appeared to her), she was akin to a ghost. She was an opaque spirit who didn't have anything fruitful to offer to the world. It had been displayed many times through her fruitless efforts to shine in the obscure face of adversity, her futile attempts to express her true feelings for the one she crushed so deeply on, and her ineffectual endeavors at parting those pale, pink lips of hers to offer her own beliefs. Instead, she permitted everyone else to speak for her. She allowed silence to govern her every movement and thought.

For a while, she believed that her cousin was correct in his theory. Perhaps she was destined to be the soft-spoken person she was. She knew that she would never toy with fate for as long as she lived. It was truly a force not to be reckoned with. There were no twists in it. She couldn't change herself.

But she had erred in her beliefs. It was a slight mistake, but it was providential for her wellbeing that she caught herself before it was too late.

Fate, that confusing conundrum, had made her life a silent hell in the beginning to open her ears up to a sound-filled heaven at the end. It had been difficult as a child, but the everlasting struggle to become stronger had finally been terminated – she could now address her family members effectively and without a stammer. The interminable skirmish that had raged on and on in her mind regarding her feelings for a certain Uzumaki had finally been brought to an end – although she had lost Naruto, she had gained Shikamaru, someone who accepted sound, in the form of his complaints, as a daily habit in life.

But most of all, her child had given her the best present life could ever offer to a person: the joy of laughter.

She smiled at her husband's closed eyes at present, safe in his warm embrace and for once, reveling in the silence that engulfed her. This time, it wasn't such an unhealthy, overwhelming sensation that asphyxiated her; it was a silence that could be easily broken and released.

Idly watching their child stoop over to pick random blades of grass before throwing them about, she marveled at the sweet simplicity of his smile. Her husband said nothing, as was his temperament during these esteemed moments, and she followed his example perfectly. However, she had to stifle a small bout of laughter in no time at all, it seemed, when their little boy promptly stumbled on some upturned dirt and frowned cutely.

She knew Shikamaru was eying her as soon as the smallest giggle escaped her lips. She also knew that if it were any other kunoichi, he would have uttered something by now. Instead, he chuckled as well and merely pulled her closer to him.

…She knew she was not troublesome to him. She knew their little child was not troublesome to him, either.

And she wanted him to know that even with his petty grievances and numerous displays of laziness, he could never be troublesome to her.

Silence had made her regret many things in life; sound had made her strive to make a new beginning for herself and her new family.

_Fate_.

To Hyuuga Hinata, it had been a strange thing to comprehend.

To Nara Hinata, it was something that she had conquered.

The fact that her silence had been broken, due to the strength and solidity that Shikamaru and their child provided, was a quirk of fate.

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**Ending Note:** Thank you for reading _AQoF_. It's my second finished fic here on this site (my first is a one-shot in the DBZ fandom). Please review and tell me what you thought!

**Ladii-Chocolate**


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